Nintendo will release a third-generation DS Lite as soon as sales of the current model begin to dip in its major sales markets, an industry analyst has claimed.
nintendo ds lite in white Nintendo's DS Lite: superseded soon?
Gaming website Gamespot said that Evan Wilson, an analyst at investment bank Pacific Crest Securities, …

STOP!

I dunno...

...loss of backwards compatibility might be an issue, especially if youve replaced a GBA with an NDS at some point and have a back catalogue - if you ever have to replace the NDS again, and pick up one of the 3rd-gen-to-be models, that could be a problem.

I predicted this was coming....

This new ds won't show itself until the wii has all its features up and running I think.

I guess the internal storage is for a possible list of things:

DSware - like wiiware but for DS meaning smaller developers can develop for the DS without needing a big wad of cash-a-roon.

DS wifi internet browser - I see they've recently canned the DS browser from shops most likely in prep for it being built into the newer model? The lack of storage was an issue with the current DS meaning not all features made it: Flash, etc

DS demos - Downloadable game demos

DS mediaplayer - mp3, video, etc could this be on the agenda?

Picochat wifi internet support - I'm guessing again storage was an issue in the previous model...friend codes chat across internet? VOIP?

RE: STOP!

new DS?

Wow. Internal memory? Its pushing into PSP territory and if they do end up giving it a bigger screen, you've got (nearly) all the features of PSP with the game library of a DS.

And back-wards compatibility hasnt really been a strong suit of Nintendo. Wii can play GC games as well as its own, but GC could only play games specifically made for it. Me thinks this is one of the reasons it failed as bad as it did. But the DS is a whole different league all together with the sheer amount and variety of games on it, GBA titles can easily become obsolete. Additionally, the DS doesnt support gameboy and gameboy color catridges anyways (I think) and that wasnt a huge issue at all.

So in normal conditions having acess to its predecessors library of games seems crucial but if anyone can NOT do that and still be sucessful, it might just be the DS. Hopefully we'll get integrated WiFi with the new model. I can assure that if that weer the case, itd sell like hotcakes.

backwards compatibility

heh...

I finally caved and bought a DS last monday. One of the reasons why I finally got one was I was sick and tired of the lack of a backlight on my GBA, and once I found out that the DS could play GBA games, I was hooked. (Yes, I never bothered to pay that close attention to it, and I'm kicking myself for it...)

While the wi-fi features are nice, Wi-fi is either not widespread out where I am at, or the selected spots are fairly heavily locked down.

The DS got GBA compatibility for free

The DS is just a GBA with some extra added hardware. GBA compatibility is essentially free, aside from also needing the GBA BIOS routines (but that's essentially just storage space in the firmware). The only thing that could be a cost-reducing measure is removing the physical slot, and that would remove one of the big original plans of the DS of having the GBA slot as an expansion port for peripherals for DS games (for example, the rumble pak which already exists, and a bunch of other potential peripherals Nintendo was planning such as a camera and so on).

3rd-gen

Well the device is first released and has no catalogue the GBA port is great as you've got a large selection of games for the device straight out of the box.

Now the DS is established with a great selection of games you can drop the old hat and run with a small form factor. Plus if the GBA port is really important to you I can imagine first/second gen systems available for you to pick-up still (especially from folks selling one to get the shiny new model).

@Compatibility

Shame. I regularly use GBA carts on my DS Lite, having missed the entire GBA era (my last handheld prior to the DS was the rather short-lived GBC). And it's bad enough that the current size of the DS Lite isn't really comfortable in my gargantuan hands. Of course, they already eliminated half the GBA support from the DS in the first place- apparently you can't connect a DS to another DS or a GBA if you want to play GBA multiplayer.

@Robin Layfield

three words: Opera for DS. It needs the RAM expansion pak. Also, yeah, the rumble pak that's used by a handful of games.